Contestant
by Sanitydzn
Summary: Daniel Winterson is taken away from his comfortable life and thrown into a hostile multiverse he's not prepared to deal with. His only goal: Survive. [Eventual crossovers][Mostly AU everything]
1. Prologue

_2 000 000 B.C.E._

The giant laughed.

Two of its three heads were held in either hand, the third hung loose from its own neck.

The laugh was a gurgling, wheezing sound.

Even in its weakened state it stalked its prey. The doomed contestants that had evaded his grasp for more than a thousand years.

"I have dreamt of this day," it spoke in a harsh whisper, "so many nights plagued with the _urge to consume you."_

It stopped stalking, and it laughed again.

" _Finally!"_ It yelled, a hint of mania creeping into it's voice.

"I can finally watch the flames in your souls die out."

It walked towards it's fallen opponents, the final two who had banded together in an effort to slay him. They had been close, the giant mused, but he had prevailed.

"Arrogance was your downfall, both of you. For that, your final mistake, your worlds will burn. With your death I am granted freedom!"

The giant laughed, and extinguished their lives, signing the death warrant for over sixteen billion more souls, while the giant was given the power to rival gods.


	2. Chapter 1

_[A/N]: Bare with me while I figure the formatting out._

The alarm doesn't really blare, but the high-pitched chime interrupts my dreams and my eyes open. It's a peaceful way to wake up. The room is usually bathed in a glow at this hour. The ponderous stretch of night finally giving way to daylight. Sometimes it's gray, sometimes gold, this time it's blue. I have a couple of hours before work starts, since i'm not a fan of early morning rushing-about.

I take a cold shower to wake me up, warming up more towards the end. My muscles relax and for a moment any bit of stress is forgotten.

Toast and turkey bacon with a glass of milk for breakfast, brush my teeth, make sure i've got everything ready, then i'm out the door.

I work retail at the local wal-mart. It's not the most exciting job but I'm competent enough for the manager to keep me around.

Smile and nod, pretend to care, point someone in the right direction, go about whatever I was doing before. It would have been soul-crushing but I'd long ago found ways to snatch about five minutes every now and then to read.

Reading keeps me sane.

Ten minutes home, something light for dinner because I'm a fat bastard with the ambition of someone much thinner.

I've been a fan of video games since I was a kid, since my dad had me playing Dune, counter strike, and age of mythology. These days I just play whatever is most convenient, or free. Mostly what's free.

I finish up one final mission, lay in bed, and start to read a book.

I fall asleep, content in the knowledge that the next time I'm awake I'll be continuing the same comfortable, reliable routine that I had been living every day for the last two years.

* * *

My alarm sings and my eyes crack open.

It's a gray morning.

My eye's slowly start to close, the warmth of my bed calling me back, the siren's song pulling me down with a promise of never ending comfort.

Where's my room?

Comfort melts away and I bolt upright, out of my bed and onto my feet.

Where'd my room go?

What the hell is with all of the gray?

I look back and find that my bed is gone. If it weren't for the fact that I could still see my body in all of its half naked, rotund glory, I would have had no indication that I had been turning at all. The gray is a void, with nothing for my awareness to latch onto and call depth. The flat, endless plane is oppressive, insulting to my sense of sight _._ It could have gone on for lightyears or meters and I'd have no way to tell. I imagined myself trying to test the boundaries of the void, wandering for a lifetime, trying to find the edge...

It's confusing and frustrating. The gray is obnoxious.

I could be dreaming, I want to believe that but I'm too _alert._ The memory of waking up in my bed was too fresh. There's a quality to dreaming that, when compared to reality, seems so blatantly false. Of course that could just mean that this is an incredibly lucid dream. Though there are ways to test that.

I pinch my nose shut and try to breathe through it. My ears popped, a sharp pain follows.

If anyone saw me doing that it would seem silly, but at least I knew that this was real.

But was it? Beds, hell, rooms in general don't just disappear.

Maybe I'm dead.

" _ **Daniel Winterson,**_ " sys a deep voice. It seems to be coming from all around me, it hurts something inside me I hadn't felt before. My being, or my essence, whatever abstract sense of _me_ I had developed over a lifetime of self awareness feels like it's being poked by a million little needles.

I'm Daniel, by the way. I think I forgot to mention that.

"G-god?" I stammer, I hadn't believed in god for years. I was religious as a kid but it was something I stopped believing as I got older.

" _ **You have been chosen,**_ " the voice thunders again. The needles that had been picking at my soul have turned into daggers. What had been discomfort is now excruciating pain.

I'm afraid, confused, and my knees are starting to shake. I can feel a bit of sweat form on my forehead and my breathing starts to get a bit heavier.

Am I panicking? I hope I don't look as pathetic as I feel.

" _ **The rules will only be explained once.**_ "

 _What?_ _Rules for what?_

" _ **I have chosen you as my contestant. There are 11 more, chosen by other's like me, spread across the multiverse. Your only goal is to survive. Kill the Entity and you will gain some of it's power. If you die, you will not be brought back,**_ " he explained.

 _Die? Chosen?_ I have so many questions, but apparently I'm not allowed to ask them.

" _ **You will be given the tools you need to survive,**_ " He continues, " _ **In each universe there will be a rift. Only you, the others who have been chosen, and the Entity are being given the means to open them. Through the rifts will be another universe, one of your choosing.**_ "

I start to feel a bit angry. I'm not sure why, I'm also aware that it probably won't do me any good but I have no idea what's going on and this..thing wants me to obey it?

It could be some breakdown of sanity, being faced with an overwhelming amount of bullshit without anyone giving me the courtesy of a half decent explanation, Hell, it could just be the rational thing to feel after being in my position, but all of a sudden I just don't care. This isn't how _my_ morning's are supposed to work.

"Who the hell are you?" I yell into the void.

" _ **You will not at any time be allowed to enter your universe of origin.**_ _ **However,**_ _ **your starting destination will be somewhere familiar to you, there you will take your first steps on this journey,**_ " the jerk continues, ignoring me, " _ **If you win, you will return to your origin universe, powerful beyond anything you are capable of comprehending.**_ "

"Yeah, that would sound good without the whole 'don't die' thin-"

" _ **If you lose, I will release chaos unto your world. Everyone you know and love will be torn limb from limb and will die painfully. Your home will cease to exist.**_ "

"You fucking assho-"

" _ **My champion, I will give you once piece of advice. The Entity must not be fought on it's own terms, or you would most assuredly lose,**_ " he says, each word punctuated with soul-crushing agony.

Then my body spasms, pain consumes me, and I'm engulfed in a blinding light.

* * *

A high pitched noise brings me back to awareness.

It was like a child's laughter. Pure, unfiltered joy.

I'm standing..somewhere, but my body feels odd. Everything is dark, I try to blink but the dark doesn't go away.

Am I blind? A feeling of dread forms in my chest. I know that there are things going on around me. I can hear the voices of people, kid's really, murmuring amongst each other. The dark begins to turn into something else. I can barely make out the forms of people moving.

I'm in a large room. The walls are white with large but geometrically simple gold designs. Whoever designed this room had obviously not been a fan of right angles and had flare for the dramatic. More gold in the form of grand arches hang from the ceiling. In the middle of the room sits a tree, it is pure white and seems to give off an inner glow. The place is grand, something befitting of royal blood or the wealthy elite of society.

I get a better look at the people around me. There are a few dozen of them, all children. Some are clustered in groups, others seem content to sit by themselves. I'm in a small group, we are standing in a loose circle in one of the room's many curving corners.

The girl beside me turns to look me in the eyes.

"Are you alright, Amun?" she asks.

That isn't my name. I feel like I should correct her but something in my mind says that she's right. My name is Amun, but it isn't, is it?

No, my name is Daniel. I bring my hands up, closer to my face. My skin is so pale, much paler than I remember them to be. Why are my hands so small?

I'm also a child, but no, that wasn't right either. I'm supposed to be 23 years old, dammit! Why did it feel like both of those things were true?

"Ah.." I croak, trying to find something to say to-

-Alya. I know her name is Alya. I've known her for a few years now, we're from the same orphanage-

-But i'm not an orphan. I can remember my parents, I was just talking to them the other day-

-Both were true, somehow. I can remember both; growing up with parents and without parents. I remember going to school, going to the movies, and my first kiss.

I also remember the orphanage, being dragged out of my small bed, thrown into a shuttle with other children. Some of them I recognized, other's I've never met before. That was yesterday, apparently.

It couldn't have been yesterday. Yesterday I was at work, then I got home, went to bed like usual and then..

Bloody hell.

"Bloody..what?" Alya asks, her face scrunches up in confusion. She seems like a cute kid. Kind of reminds me of my niece.

"Wha- did I say that out loud? I'm sorry," I say, surprised by my own voice. I'm not quite sure why I was apologizing to her. I think I mean it though. I don't like seeing her confused, she is my closest friend.

I've never had a sister before but I think she might be the closest thing to one.

This is so weird.

As far as I can tell, i've lived two lives. One of those lives was going on almost a decade and a half longer than the other.

I am both 7 and 23 simultaneously. I have Amun's memories as well as Daniel's memories. The body feels weird because only one set of memories knows how to deal with them, while the other set is giving me completely different instincts. I felt like a mess, my experiences are so fractured.

It was that voice, the one that belongs to whatever snatched me from my life elsewhere. It has to be, it took Daniel, or me, and Amun and fused them together in..Amun. This was Amun's body.

 _Warning, you will die if you face the entity. Oh, but i'm not going to tell you that i'm about to stuff the ego of a 23 year old into the body and mind of a 7 year old. Have fun, you poor fucker._

Not even a little bit of warning. Couldn't it have taken me 10 seconds sooner? That would be plenty of time to warn me of this.

Amun was, no, is 7 years old. Daniel is 23 and grew up in Vancouver. Amun's never heard of Vancouver, he grew up on a space station orbiting earth. The orphanage is run by-

My thoughts were interrupted when Alya giggles.

"It's okay, Amun," she says as she takes my hand, "let's go sit down somewhere, my legs are getting tired from standing."

We walk towards the big white tree.

"Alya, I feel strange," I tell her. She looks at me and smiled.

"We're all kind of scared. I've never seen the Commander Mother so sad, when she saw us to the shuttle she was starting to cry!" her voice rises in pitch as she speaks, "can you believe that?"

I remember the Commander Mother. She always seemed cold and distant to me. She ran the orphanage better than some of the other's i've heard about. There were moments when she really seemed to care about the kids.

About us. Me. Amun, but not Daniel.

She was tough. She'd never cry.

"Nah you were probably just seeing things," I say. Alya shakes her head.

"Nope! I even heard her sniffle!"

"Maybe she had allergies?" I ask.

"Aller..jees?"

"Yeah, you know," I start, but there was..something..

Amun doesn't remember anything about allergies. Daniel's memories are full of things like that. Sickness, allergies, so many things that Amun would have thought to be horrible. How could anyone live like that?

"Huh, maybe she was crying," I murmur.

"Told you!" Alya says, looking a bit smug. We both smiled, but slowly hers fades and she turns serious.

"Amun, what do you think is going on? When everyone was talking about it earlier you seemed really quiet."

I have no freakin' idea what was going on. Amun was on a shuttle before they got here. He remembered seeing a big ship. His people always designed things big. It was a symbol of pride, the golden age of-

I snap out of my thoughts as the room starts shaking. Some of the kids around me are screaming. Everything starts to twist, the walls and the light reflecting each other. The air pulses a sick white and yellow. I feel like I'm everywhere at once. I'm simultaneously hot and cold, the air around me condensing and expanding rapidly like a heart beating. The colors shift, the gold's turning gray and the white's turning red.

I start to remember more.

Adults talking when they didn't think we could hear them. The would say things that Amun couldn't understand, but Daniel's memories gave them new meaning.

Amun heard 'The Senchyent', and Daniel heard 'The Sentient'.

Amun heard 'tow setty', and Daniel heard 'Tau Ceti'.

Amun provides the memories, Daniel fills in the blanks, and understanding dawns.

Tau Ceti, The Sentient, being taken from the orphanage, boarding the big ship, the fancy architecture.

Being injected with..something.

No, not just 'something'. Technocyte. It makes Amun's skin itch. Daniel knew what it means.

The Orokin Empire, the descendants of humanity had reached their apex. But like their ancestors before them their empire is too top heavy. Too much power amongst the elite, leaving the poor to fend for themselves. When the empire started to collapse upon itself, they knew they needed to expand.

They set their eyes outwards, towards the nearest stars, looking for a planet that was even marginally habitable. Through the Void they saw Tau Ceti and the salvation of their empire. Ships full of droids were sent to the system. When they arrived at their destination, they would begin mining for resources. Then they would replicate and terraform, along the way they would report to their masters in Sol.

The masters never heard back.

Decades later something appeared at the edge of the Sol system, attacking everything in sight. They wouldn't respond to hails or accept surrender. Upon further study, they could be seen coming from the Tau system.

At first the Orokin thought that this was the first contact with a truly alien intelligence.

They weren't _completely_ wrong.

What the Orokin didn't know was that the Void, that place of twisted reality at the edge of the Sol System where the laws of physics became corrupted, was like poison to the machines. Once they had made it through the void, they were stranded, their programming corrupted in subtle ways.

Upon developing the Tau system for Orokin settlement, one droid became self aware, unable to remember it's original purpose it decided to keep replicating. With each replication it's intelligence grew. It's sense of self became more pronounced.

It didn't have a name. It didn't need one. It just was.

Why they returned to the system of their origin to fight their creator's, no one knew why. They never would.

The Orokin came called them The Sentients They had warred with their creator's in the Sol system for years, along the way evolving the ability to assimilate any advanced technology they came across.

So as the Orokin grew, the Sentients grew with them. However, the Orokin were not stupid. As the Sentients adapted to the Orokin, so did the Orokin adapt to the Sentients. Instead of their high-technology, they combed through the history of humanity, re-inventing a more primitive means of combat.

Amun didn't know any of this, but Daniel did.

Therefore I did.

I also knew that we weren't so far ahead in the timeline. If I was right, this ship was Zariman 10-0.

No, Amun's memories indicate that Zariman has already happened, again from whispers that had spread throughout the staff of the orphanage. So why were they taking kids in ships? Some kind of mass exodus?

Amun also remembered hearing more. He thought they were just scary stories the adults told each other. Stories about the moon, about monsters and heroes called the Tenno-

I hear Alya scream and I'm aware of a pain in my head. I try to focus on what's happening around me but I can only see Alya. She looks like she was in so much pain and I realize that my pain isn't really that bad in comparison. Her eyes are bloodshot and the tiny muscles in her neck strain with her voice. It looks like bugs are crawling under her skin. In the periphery of my vision I see a version of reality where nothing makes sense. Shadow's standing upright, taking the form of squares and circles. Light twisting around them in every color imaginable and some that I don't even think are possible. Space itself seems to grow aware, twisting and writhing, tendril's of it solidify and give off light. My consciousness doesn't feel like my own anymore. I become one with the suffering around me.

There is a darkness spreading here, in this mindscape. It grows exponentially, swallowing our collective awareness. Digesting it.

I watch as it dances, pitiless in its consumption. It's vicious and predatory and at the same time it's beautiful, but in the way that only an unstoppable force of nature can be.

the darkness hits me. It swallows Amun, and then it swallows Daniel, rapidly moving onto the bits of each of us that have learned to work together, where the memories and experiences have come to count on each other for mutual understanding.

Daniel sees Amun's inner strength. Amun sees Daniel's life and knew that there is something more than the orphanage. He sees possibilities, and for the first time a sense of ambition stirs where indifference sat before.

Amun sees the mission Daniel has been given, he hears the voice shake Daniel's soul in the endless gray plane.

That small spark of sanity grows smaller still. Amun/Daniel thrash against it. Yet, as the darkness spread, determination flourished. They remember the voice, the consequences of their potential failure..

Do. _Not_. _**Lose.**_

The push as hard as they can. The effort isn't physically exhausting, but it's tiring in other ways. Occasionally they forget what they are fighting, or why they are fighting it. For a split second the darkness can advance, only to be pushed back once more. Slowly, Amun/Daniel collect more of themselves. Eventually, they start to once again become I.

I will not lose.

I find more threads, bits of Amun's and Daniel's lives mixed with the memories and experiences of the others around me. Whenever I find more of my own, I weave them together. With each weave I become stronger. My will to beat the darkness grows along with me.

For ages we fight. Eventually the darkness withers, shrivels, and dies.

I'm whole again, just in time to watch as reality folds in on itself, taking us all with it.

Some time later I wake up.

Things seemed to have corrected themselves. I no longer feel like I'm in ten places at once. The shadow shapes have long since faded away. The children around me have stopped screaming. Most have gone quiet while others just sobbed.

Alya was one of the quiet ones.

I sit up where I had previously been lying and turn to look for her, only to realize that sometime during the panic we had gotten separated. When I find her, she is sitting on the ground with her legs crossed. Her eyes are still bloodshot and unblinking.

I stand up and take a step towards her and almost stumble. I feel tired and dehydrated. How long had I been asleep? I can't remember much at all...

When I get within a meter of Alya, the air starts to get warm. Closer still and I can see the air start to shimmer, something radiating off of her skin. When it starts to get unbearably hot I decide to move back and try talking to her.

"Alya?"

I wait for a response, but she doesn't even twitch.

"Alya, can you hear me?" I ask, a bit louder this time. I want to get closer to her but the heat is too much for me to tolerate.

I know, deep down, that there is something very wrong with her. I know she won't answer me.

I'm being stubborn, holding onto hope that something will happen, that she'll turn around and smile and tell me that everything will be okay.

The hope fades away. I expect to feel sad that i'd lost her.

Why wasn't I sad about that? I don't feel indifferent, or numb. I still felt..things. I know about emotional burnout from Daniel, how people can only really feel intense feelings for so long before the mind adapts.

More than anything I just feel tired. I feel sorry for her and the rest of the boys and girls who didn't make it out with their sanity intact.

I look around again. There are a few kid's walking about, like me, checking on their friends. I hear someone behind me, laughing.

It's a boy, he's staring at the wall.

Just staring and laughing.

I sigh.

So Alya's gone. That boy is probably only a small sliver of whatever he'd once been. I think I managed to recover most of myself from that dark thing.

No, I'm okay. Not great, but i've felt worse.

Well, Daniel had, after a very intense night of drinking with his friends. Most of Daniel's experiences would have seemed so odd to Amun. I feel a pinch of sadness at remembering those friends.

Shit, maybe it's just shock that I'm feeling. Maybe, a few days from now, it will all hit me at once and i'll turn into a little ball of remorse and depression.

If I'm to be honest with myself, I would say that I identify as Daniel more than I do as Amun. Maybe that's where the hint sadness comes from. Daniel wouldn't have felt sad for losing Alya. Amun would have.

I don't feel sad.

The more I think about it, the clearer it becomes.

I'm still Daniel, but I'm also a little bit extra. It's the best and worst of both of them. Daniel's memories stuck inside Amun's body with all seven years of Amun's life to supplement that.

 _Enough of that_ , I think. There are other things going on right now. My attention is brought towards a large protrusion, like a tall vertical cylinder, coming out of one of the walls. It opens with a swish, and into the room comes a group of men and women dressed in form fitting white and blue body-suits.

I'm willing to bet that whatever we just went through was the Orokin attempting to recreate the Zariman 10-0 incident. Throw some people into the Void, bake em' for a bit, pluck out the one's who haven't gone totally wacko, and put them in a Warframe to fight the bad guys.

Is that what happened? I remember reading something about in the Warframe Codex.

"Scan them," says a male voice at the front of the pack as they walk towards us. A few kids turn their attention towards the new crowd. Most of them seem just as detached as I feel.

"I'm getting strong power indication from this one, but her mind is burned out," one of the women says as she walked towards Alya, "Woah, yep. She's strong but she's gone for now."

"She could still be useful. Tag her for research and move on to the next one," says the leading male.

The woman that was studying Alya moves towards the laughing boy. When she gets to him she just sighs and shakes her head.

I can relate. It's a sad sight.

The group moves throughout the room, scanning and sighing. Some of the other children are unresponsive, like Alya. Other's lay on the floor, twitching. I see a girl hanging off of the roof, a look of confusion and barely contained panic on her face.

"How did you get up there?" one of the adult's ask her.

"Dunno'," the kid tries to shrug.

"Do you want to try to come down on your own or do you want someone to come up and get you?" the same adult asks.

"I- uh.." she hesitates, "I think i'm good, thanks for the offer."

She crawled across the ceiling towards the wall. It reminds me of Spiderman.

I don't remember encountering a Warframe with the ability to scale walls and hang off of the ceiling. I probably shouldn't rely on the source material to be the completely accurate retelling of something happening in another universe.

One of the adult's stops in front of me, the rectangular object in his hand moves up and down and makes a short, high-pitched buzzing noise.

He turns back to his colleagues, "This one's got some as well!"

"Good, that's all of them. With your boy there," he says pointing at me, "the number of Actives in this group is at 14. That leave's 9 semi-active and the rest unaffected or irrecoverable. Let's get them loaded up."

The leader turns and pulls a small device out of his pocket as he walks back through the tall sliding cylinder, his job done.

"Hey, kid," says the man who had scanned me, "How're you feeling?"

I shrugged. I'm not sure how I feel about being called 'kid', but they wouldn't really know any better and I wasn't about to tell them any differently. I'm still assimilating most of Daniel's and Amun's memories into one cohesive bunch to take reference from. I am _not_ about to try and convince someone who has every reason to believe I might be crazy that i'm really 23 years old and just stuck in a 7-year-old's body.

The mental resources to try to explain it without looking like an idiot just aren't available. Heck, I doubt that anyone would believe me anyways.

I could just blame it on Void fuckery.

I think i'll just play along as being a kid for now.

How am I supposed to address this guy? Sir? Mister?

 _Both are okay,_ Amun supplies, along with the how the word's are actually spoken. I'm slightly relieved to see that the Orokin spoke in a distant dialect of english. Drift over the course of a couple millennia had allowed the language to become a _lot_ more modular, but it was still recognizable once you've learned which syllables to actually put emphasis on.

The biggest problem I ran into was the fact that, given the nature of English and it's propensity to adopt the words of other languages into its own, the Orokin had an _entire solar system_ worth of cultures to borrow from.

It's a bit intimidating at first, to say the least.

On a positive note, the part of me that is Daniel is amused to see that ' _far out'_ is making a comeback into the social lexicon.

I start to notice that the separation between the two sides of my consciousness is starting to fade. Daniel's volume of experience eclipsed Amun's, so it's only natural that I once again begin to identify as Daniel. I was okay with that, though. Amun would never be completely lost, just less than he was before.

I could have done without the urge to pick my nose. A nasty habit Amun had developed on purpose once he noticed how much it annoyed the orphanage staff.

I giggle, a bit louder than I intended too. I noticed this when the man in front of me frowns at my reaction.

"I'm okay, sir," I assure him. He nods and tells me to follow him as he turns around and started walking towards the cylindrical door thing.

We walk along very tall and thin corridors. They're actually pretty enormous so calling them thin isn't really doing them any justice, but they seem to have been built for giants. The whole way from the Room to wherever we were, the aesthetic has stayed the same. Intricate golden patterns fused into pearlescent white walls and ceilings.

The people, the adults, walking around all have a certain dignity to their statures. Their heads are all held high when they aren't hunched over various devices. I see floating pictures of light- holographic technology I assume- dancing around small pillars. Wisps of light like fireflies floating along the ceiling in regular patterns.

"It's the ship's AI," my guide told me once he finds me staring upwards, "it's not a sophisticated one. That design choice was made out of both prudence and practicality."

"So it's not self aware?" I ask, my voice a lot raspier than I intended it to be.

"No," he says, "after we started to realize the nature of The Sentient the High Council banned the production and continued existence of any class 4 AI. I guess we've been lucky so far, as far as we know we haven't been able to actually produce anything self aware but the High Council isn't taking the chance that a sophisticated AI could be corrupted and used against them."

"Those lights you see up there," he continues as we walk, "are little self contained processes. The designers wanted to have them uncovered because, well," he sweeps his hands around him, and at the walls we pass, "You know how we like to make things."

"Grandiose," I answer.

"Pretty much," he laughs.

"Anyways, the stuff going on up there is contained in a small energy shields. They're very weak but they're more than enough to stand up to Void stress. Before we encountered The Sentient we didn't really know how regular physics reacted to, ah," he paused, "It all goes over my head, really. My job is to get you to the shuttle bay which we should be at soon."

I begin to realize i'm entirely too calm about all of this. When he says 'Void', something inside me clicks. I realize just how much pain I'm in.

Real, physical, excruciating pain.

My body starts to clench up, my arms squeezing against my ribs and all of the air forcing itself out of my lungs. I must be making a scene because I hear my guide yell for help. My eyes are closed, it hurts to see. I hear the sound of feet hitting the ground around me.

"Hurry, we need to get him into stasis," I hear a woman yell.

"Damned Sentients making us do this to children," another woman mutters near my ear. Hands start to grasp my body and I feel like i'm being carried.

"None of that!" someone else snaps.

"Sir, with all due respect, you can't expect anyone to be happy about this!" says my guide.

"You're not expected to be happy, you're expected to obey orders," the snapper snaps again, "This is necessary, Jan, you know that," the same person said but their voice is softening.

"I know," my guide, Jan, said. I'm put down on a hard surface. The surface start to squirm, softening and molding itself to the shape of my body.

"I know," Jan says again with a sigh, "I'll follow the Emperor and his military, everyone here will. I just hope all of this is worth it."

Whatever said after that gets drowned out by an intense buzzing noise, and the air around me starts to freeze. Even amongst my own pain and stress, the thing that stands out most the was the sound of a woman crying.

For a second, it reminds me of my mother.


	3. Chapter 2

_[A/N] Think i'm starting to get a handle on formatting. After i'm done with the next few chapters i'll go back and fix the typo's and grammatical errors. Your feedback is welcome and encouraged._

* * *

" _All signs reading stable."_

Cold.

" _Prepare him for defrost and Technocyte conditioning."_

Fucking. Cold.

" _Ready when you are."_

A universe of nothing but cold, freezing fucking cold.

" _Awp station, check. Transference module, check. Void shield, check. Yeah, we're ready."_

A woman crying, pain, lights, and a darkness spreading across the minds of everyone around me.

Alya.

Cold.

" _Okay, starting defrost sequence now. Thirty seconds until he's safe to handle, forty until Technocyte is wild."_

Warmth spreading from my chest to my extremities.

" _Wow, tough kid."_

" _You've gotta' be to survive something like that."_

" _Point."_

The warmth spreads through my soul, like a hot chocolate after a day of working in the cold.

" _Ten seconds, prep TC shot."_

" _Prepped."_

I'm bathing in a pool of radiant warmth. I can't remember ever feeling so peaceful.

" _Stasis pod is opening,"_

I'm ripped from the warmth into numbness.

" _I've got him."_

" _Inject the TC."_

The numbness is being twisted. It's not painful, it tingles my skin and my bones. I feel it intensify into a vibration that consumes the numbness and everything else.

" _Come on, dance for me you tiny bastards."_

" _Alan!"_

The vibration spreads out of my body and into the room around me. I can feel everything.

" _Sorry, boss."_

" _Conditioning at 90 percent. It's safe to start transference."_

" _Boss, I think i'm picking up some Void energy."_

" _Shit, get containment up. How bad is it?"_

" _It's hardly registering at all, but it's there. It looks like he's channeling."_

" _Impossible."_

The vibration is given substance, with it I can see and feel everything around me. The substance that's been spreading starts to form patterns. The patterns are like a language designed for me, something only I can understand.

" _No one has shown this much control so soon, he's not even conscious yet!"_

" _All I need to know is if it's going to interfere with the Transference process."_

" _You know just as well as I do that the module is just a prototype. We don't know enough about the process, I have no idea how excess Void energy will affect it."_

The patterns start to flash. The pain is coming back.

" _Uh, he's starting to destabilize. The Technocyte is reverting."_

" _It's now or never, do we Transfer him?"_

" _What does he have to lose?"_

" _His life."_

 _Another pause_

" _Fine. Do it."_

The pattern's blur. The pain duplicates itself, my awareness of it is coming from more than once source.

" _Transference at 5 percent completion."_

" _Is this right? The host body is changing."_

Something's different. It's not wrong, or bad, but I feel like i'm in an alien environment. It's like a repeat of when I first came into contact with Amun, but this time it's so much more smooth.

" _Transference at 19 percent completion."_

" _It hasn't even been-"_

" _Transference at 38 percent completion."_

" _Not so fast! It's not safe!"_

" _It's out of my hands, boss. I've never seen this before. It's like the Void energy itself is dictating the process."_

" _I knew using this technology so soon was a bad idea."_

" _Transference at 80 percent completion."_

 _Someone laughs._

I feel whole.

" _Transference complete," the voice sounds synthesized._

I'm aware and full of energy, I haven't felt this good since the first time I drank coffee.

My eyes open. I'm lying on a soft bed, my head feels like it's being held by something. I look around with my eyes and I see the faces of people around me. They remind me of doctors.

"Welcome, Tenno," the synthesized voice speaks again.

At that, the people around me start move. Two of them coming up and prodding at me with what I think are sensors. They look kind of like the things that were pointed at me back on the...ship.

"Everything looks good over here," the man closest to me says to his colleagues.

"Good," a woman on the far side of the room says as she starts to walk towards him. She looks towards me.

"How are you feeling?" she says, her voice gentle. She sounds worried.

"Um, I-" I freeze. I have a new voice, again.

"Talk to me, Amun. Is there something wrong?"

"N-no, it's just my voice is different," I say. It's deeper, more like how it was when I was Daniel, "I feel really good."

"Are you sure?" she asks as her eyes narrow.

"Yes i'm sure. Can someone please explain to me what's happening?" I realize as I ask this that it might have been more prudent to ask...Jonny? No, Jahnay, when he was escorting me.

The doctor's, or whatever they are, look at each other. I think of telling them that when they look at eachother like that isn't very reassuring but something tells me that it won't help my situation.

"Everything will be explained soon," the woman who was talking to me before says. I think she's the boss here, "for now we're going to run a few tests to see that everything's working as it should be."

That _really_ doesn't help, lady.

"Uh, okay."

She smiles, but it looks kind of forced.

"In an hour or so someone will come and talk to you about what you've just been through. It might be tough to understand but you need to be strong, alright?" her voice is kind of soothing, but at the same time i'm annoyed. Being spoken too like i'm a child is going to get very old, very fast.

"Fine," I say, "is there anything I can do until then? Is there a TV around here?"

"Tee..vee..?"

Wait, what? Right, they wouldn't know.

"Sorry, I mean," what did I mean? I think it's something that starts with 'broadcast." Come on Amun, give me something..

"I mean a Broadcast Station," I say with more relief in my voice than the situation probably warrants.

"Oh, sure. I'll go get one for you."

After what feels like about an eternity of watching what passed for Orokin Educational Documentaries, a door slides open at the far end of the medical room. The man that steps into the room is the biggest, meanest looking dude i've seen in my life. The room shakes with every step he takes and the doctors cringe, but more for the sake of their equipment I imagine.

I notice that the man has a visible aura around him, it feels kind of familiar. As he gets closer I can see the aura vibrating. Symbols pulse around him in in a way that I can _understand_.

I've never met this man in my life, but I know him. There's a connection here.

He stops beside me.

"My name is-" he starts to say, but the symbols around him coalesce into a word.

"-Atlas," I finish for him with a bit of uncertainty. I regret it immediately as he recoils. I'm not supposed to know that. I don't even know how I know that.

He doesn't even look like Atlas. The symbol on his shoulder is the head and shoulder's of a Rhino frame...

His eyes narrow and he takes another look at me, and I at him.

His brown hair is cut very short, the military stereotype. His outfit reminds me of the one's I saw on the people who took me off the ship, but instead of white his is black and beige.

"Have we met before?" he asks.

"No," I feel like I should be calling him 'sir', "sir, I just had a feeling."

He nods and looks at the boss-lady.

"You were right. He's a natural," he turns back to me and smiles, "the good doctor here tells me you're okay to leave. You feel up for a walk?"

I nod and he gives me a hand to help me out of the bed. Whatever was holding my head back detaches itself and i'm free to move my neck. It starts to click as I stretch it and I sigh with relief.

"I feel weak," I tell him as I take my first step. It's immediately apparent that i'm taller than I used to be, even as Daniel.

"Yeah, about that," he sighs, "You're in a new body."

I'm surprised that I manage to take that in stride. He is as well if the arch in his eyebrow is anything to tell by.

"I figured, but _why_ am I in a new body?"

"Straight to it then, alright. Your old body was exposed to the void with Technocyte running rampant through your body. The other kids with you were in the same boat," he stops for a second and laughs.

"Hah, boat. I didn't even mean to say that."

"Technocyte?" I ask, ignoring the bad pun.

"Yeah, as far as I know it's something the Orkies cooked up to make a super soldier. It didn't work out like they intended it to but they found that Technocyte plut Void energy equals crazy. And sometimes, the crazy is useable as a weapon," he says and points to himself.

"You went through it too? Being stuck in that room with kids?" There was more of an edge to my voice than I meant, but I am genuinely curious.

"Yup. I was one of the first 10 to get a Frame'. They said i'm the most mentally stable out of that batch so between missions I stick around for introductions and help train the newbies along with a few others who you might be meeting soon. Although," he says and slows down his pace. He looks at me with curiosity.

"We've had dozens of you guys coming through, and 8 out of the 14 of those who just came back that weren't dead, or brain dead, have already been shown around."

I _have_ to ask.

"What about Alya?"

"Who?" he replied.

"A girl that came with me onto the ship. Nevermind," I sigh. That answers that question.

"Okay," he shrugs, "There's no one named Alya on the Actives list. Sorry, pal."

At the end of the corridor that exits the medical room, there is an airlock-style door. It hisses open and on the other side is a grand hall. Grand in ways that that make everything else i've seen seem piss poor by comparison.

"This is the Atrium. You'll be meeting the rest of your trainers here," he told me.

"The rest?" I ask.

"Yup, that's me being one of them," he said with a smirk, "I think reintroduction's are in order. The name is Atlas and I'm going to be helping you get up to speed, both figuratively and literally."

"Pleasure to meet you, Atlas. I'm D- err, Amun," I cough to cover up the mistake I almost made.

"Nice to meet you as well Durrhamun," he teases. I roll my eyes. I like this guy, he doesn't treat me like i'm a child. It's a refreshing change of pace.

"Don't get too attached to that name, Amun. The thing is, you're not who you used to be. Trust me, I know. So does everyone else around here, so don't think you're alone around here. Eventually you'll have to decide if you want to keep that name or go with something else. I chose Atlas because he held the weight of the world on his shoulder's, it seemed fitting to my ah, strengths."

"We'll see. Hey, do I call you sir, or something?"

"Nah, just be respectful. That's all the trainer's really care about. Not all of them are as carefree as I am, though. You'll find that out yourself; that you and I are an oddity among Tenno. The Void does things to people, it hits them in different ways. Sometimes you get people like-" he's cut off when someone appears out of nowhere, right in front of us.

"Speak of the devil," Atlas said with a smile, "expected you to show yourself sooner or later."

"And the devil shall appear," the newcomer says in a dual-tone voice. It's apparent that it's a male, although the voice is kind of odd to judge by. He's in full Warframe kit, though I don't recognize the type.

"This is Amun, he's the one the doctor's were going a bit crazy over. He was tapping the Void straight out of Cryo. They hadn't even woken him up yet."

"Impressive," the newcome mused, turning to me. There's a glow around him, like Atlas has. The Aura, with symbols pulsing around him, pools together near the top of his head into a word.

"Loki," I exclaim with some uncertainty. The frame didn't much resemble what I remember from the game except for his clawed right hand, but i've already realized that what's canon won't be guaranteed to match reality.

Loki tilts his head, but stays quiet for a few seconds before he turns to Atlas.

"Indeed, quite impressive," he says and looks back at me, "I'm curious, do you see light around Atlas and I?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I see! There are symbols, or signs, popping up around you. When I first saw you they started to move together and made a word, although it wasn't in any language i'd seen before yet somehow I recognized it," I explain.

Loki nods and Atlas looks thoughtful.

"I've never heard of someone being able to instinctively access such a high state of awareness, at least not without years of training," Loki says.

"How strong are the signs?" Atlas asks, "are they there all the time?"

"No," I answer, "They sort of shift in and out of view."

"It is very uncommon for one who is inexperienced and untrained in the ways of The Void and it's energies to see the aura. However, the level of control that this implies for you is very fascinating. I look forward to training with you, Amun," Loki says.

"Oh, you too," I reply. He blurs and the space around him shifts colors for a second, then he disappears.

That actually looked pretty cool.

"I like Loki. He's a bit quiet at times but you can trust him to have your back in a tough spot," Atlas says, "but that's mostly true for everyone here."

"Mostly?"

"You'll see."

"Right, so are all of my trainers or teachers going to be popping in like that?"

"Nah," Atlas shrugs, "Loki's not a fan of gatherings of more than a couple of people. Any more than that and he gets skittish."

"So, stealth abilities?"

"Precisely," he smiles.

"At this you're probably wondering to yourself, is that how it works for everyone?"

I nod, it was an accurate assessment.

"No, it's not. Loki was pretty lucky in that regard. It was easier for him to grow into his abilities because there wasn't very much more for him to learn about himself. He has a knack for misdirection and striking you where you least expect it."

I nod, that sounds a lot more like the Loki I know.

"I was pretty timid as well, before all of this, but my abilities are mostly strength based," Atlas explained, "It turns out that when I'm in a fight, I can channel my rage and fear into my abilities and my Warframe reflects that. Plus, I just enjoy the feeling of fighting my enemies face to face. I had to learn that about myself. You may be the same, but maybe not. It's always different."

"And no, you won't be doing any training today, you'll meet the rest of your trainers tomorrow so that they can assess how to get the most out of you," he says, probably just anticipating any further questions.

I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Truth be told, I'm incredibly tired. The rush of energy I had when I had been 'defrosted' had started to leave me.

"Is there somewhere around here I can rest?" I ask. Atlas looks at me like i'm an idiot.

"Duh, we're not savages," he answers.

"Could have fooled me," I joke.

"I see we're going to work on sharpening that blunt-edged wit of yours as well," he says, shaking his head, "weak."

"Hey! You're catching me on an off day," I retort.

"Sure, that could explain it," he says, his tone indicating just how much he believes that.

We walk off towards another open passageway. There aren't many people around and our footsteps echo off a long ways along the metallic surroundings. It would be eerie if the place weren't so damn fascinating.

These _people,_ the Orokin, had thousands of years of knowledge and experience built upon whatever was around in my time. The results of all of that are, excuse my french, fucking beautiful. I remember what Jan had told me about the ship's computer, how the designers would just casually sacrifice function for form. Not only was the outcome aesthetically awesome, but the trade off wasn't even worth mentioning. Their technology was so advanced that the greatest engineers of my time would be hard pressed to find a legitimate reason to complain.

The white and gold aesthetic hasn't even started to lose it's appeal. Blue lighting reflects off the walls around us, giving the place a ghostly atmosphere.

Through another hall and another set of unnecessarily large doors Atlas leads me, into yet another room, but this one seems different.

It reminds me of a hotel lobby, luxurious is ways only the Orokin can afford. The middle of the room is circular and at a slight incline, leading towards a stubby cylindrical extrusion which hosts a grand white tree like I saw on the Orokin ship. The inner glow seems a bit more intense but that may be because of the more relaxed lighting. Closer to sides of the room the edges are more pronounced, squared instead of rounded. There are four doorways here, spaced about 20 meters away from each other.

Atlas walks towards the tree, I follow.

We stop about 3 meters away from it. I wait for Atlas to say something but all of his focus is on the tree. His breathing is louder but it doesn't sound like he's under any stress.

It doesn't look like any of the other glowing trees i've seen. I watch Atlas as he gives it a shallow bow.

"Follow me, i'll take you to your new quarters," he says as he walks off to the left.

I spare the tree one more glance and jog to catch up with him.

"Don't ask," he says without looking at me, "it's something you'll learn about on your own."

I can't help but feel that the mood has shifted into something a lot more serious than it was on the way. It doesn't feel tense, but talking seems like it might be unwelcome. It's probably all in my head, but that doesn't mean i'm about to risk saying something that might offend.

That, and i'm tired and can't really think of anything else to say.

"Welcome to your new home," Atlas says as after about a minute of silent walking.

The door to the room opens on it's own. The grand aesthetic is given way to a more comfortable and cozy design. The golden highlights are minimized to thin lines along walls edges and a more pronounced bulge on the vertices where the edges connect.

Atlas runs his hand down a white panel and a bed extrudes from an spot in the wall. On the opposite side of the room a large holographic screen appears. From where it's projected I can't tell, but the screen is quite large.

"The bed will recess back into the wall if it hasn't been used for more than an hour. You'll need the space that affords in the mornings and evenings, before and after training. You'll be learning a lot of exercises to strengthen the connection between your mind and your body. Don't worry, the walls are reinforced and can stand up to any punishment you might accidentally unleash," he says with a chuckle. I guess the somber mood had been lifted sometime in the last thirty seconds.

"Get some sleep, you'll be up early tomorrow to meet the rest of your trainers and you'll start learning very soon after that," he turns to me, "Look, you might be wondering about how well you're taking all of this. There's a chance that the Void scrambled whatever part of your brain reacts to sudden shifts in circumstance, but if i've judged you right then you're probably a lot like I was when I came out of it. You'll be feeling the shock tomorrow and it will probably take a toll on your training for a couple of weeks."

He puts his hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eye, "It _will_ pass, okay? I think you'll find yourself liking it here."

"Alright," I said with a shrug, "I guess I'll find out tomorrow."

He nods and walks out of the room without another word. The door shuts free he leaves and I'm left alone.

I sit on the bed and stare at the big, floating screen across the room.

Now what?

I'm tired, more tired than I can ever remember. I'm not in my own body. This fact alone is starting to freak me out. In fact, I'm twice removed from my body. I have the memories of two people, I'm not the same person I was, and I don't know how to feel about that. Everytime I look down I expect to see a fat body, I expect my joints to ache when I move around.

I remember the last time I looked in the mirror, the feeling of disgust that had started to stir at the image of the pathetic man in front of me. That felt like it happened weeks ago, part of some half remembered dream. It's hard to believe that it was yesterday.

Yesterday I was Daniel. I knew myself, what I was capable of and where I stood in the world and the society I lived in. Now, I've been brute-forced into a universe I used to think of as fiction, i've had my brain rewired by a force not bound by the laws of physics, and now I have abilities?

I should probably see the silver lining here. Yes, i'm in a new body, but it's a healthy body. I haven't felt this strong or light since- well, I actually can't remember a time when I _did_ feel like this.

Is it worth the cost? Being removed from something familiar and placed here, as a weapon of war?

I have too many questions and the answers are too strange to consider.

Time, I think that's what I need. Time to assimilate all of this.

I'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.


	4. Chapter 3

_[A/N] First off, I apologize for anyone who is/was expecting an SG-1 crossover to happen straight off, but I've got some things that I need to do with Amun/DanielWinterson in the warframe verse first. It will come. I promise. Just..not yet. I've got some big things planned for the Stargate verse. Big, giant things. What those things are I only have a vague idea of but they're gonna be big and good and cool. ALSO i'll be trying very hard to keep to the general tone of Stargate: SG-1. I respect that franchise way too much to take any narrative shortcuts. How well i'm able to do that may be riding on any feedback I get from you peeps. I'm not too worried about messing up the Warframe canon because DE has kept it pretty vague in terms of background info, so it's essentially a playground for me to roll around in._

 _If anyone's got any general ideas for this story let me know in a review or PM, I might use them later on._

 _Oh, and the whole tree-thing below isn't canon, as far as i'm aware._

 _Comments, criticisms, and critiques are welcome and encouraged._

* * *

"You must _Focus_."

I relax my body and focus on my breathing.

"It's like walking," Loki says, "with practice it becomes automatic. You know where you want to move, and you do. Such is the way with Focus."

It's my first day of training. An hour ago I met up with my new trainers. Around here they seem to frown upon the word 'teacher' when it comes _teaching_ other people about the use Void Energy. ' _Instructor_ ' works, so does ' _trainer_ ' or ' _mentor_ '.

I guess it's a cultural thing, or something to do with semantics. Amun's memories aren't giving me any clues.

I'm told by my trainers that when I was subjected to the Void while in Amun's body, his biology was altered in subtle ways. How it does what it does, the mechanism behind it, is unknown. The sharpest scientific minds of the mighty Orokin empire have no explanation and expect to never have one that they can rely on for any reliable amount of time. The laws inside the Void seem to be dynamic, always changing to suit some unseen, incomprehensible conditions.

The energy is tied to awareness, that much they do know. Children have the highest chance of coming out of the Void with some of their sanity intact. When their consciousness is transferred into a new body, as mine was, the Void follows. However, any energy gathered between the time you were in the Void and the instance of Transference is lost with the original body. Over the course of a year or two of intense training the new body will naturally adapt to accessing Void energy without the drawbacks associated with having a Void-corrupted body. Void energy channeled outside of space that isn't constantly open to the Void results in a more predictable outcome, hence the near-mystical abilities of the Tenno.

This is the typical routine for getting a newbie Tenno up to whatever standard is deemed acceptable for fighting a vast robot army.

As it so happens, I'm anything but typical.

During my Transference, the process of transferring the consciousness from Amun's body to another, the Void Energy that was already pooled into young body followed me. Apparently this has not happened before. My current body is adapting in ways that have some of the researchers concerned, or excited depending on who you ask. Nobody knows what's going to happen.

I'm almost willing to bet money on who might be behind this little anomaly.

Apparently my fine control over Void Energy that allows me to see the Auras of my fellow Tenno is a result of all that. Loki here is trying to help me delve deeper into that with meditation. Once I acquire Focus, he tells me, we'll begin to see just how far that control can go.

I will then be qualified to start learning how to use my Aura to the benefit of other people. Apparently, unlike the game, Auras can't be modified on a whim. I'm stuck with what I've got, so it's my job to make sure I'm getting the best out of it.

It's comforting that some parts of this universe are the same as what I'm familiar with in the game. At the same time, I'm not sure if that's a healthy attitude to keep. This isn't a game.

A fact I'm uncomfortably aware of as my legs start to fall asleep.

"Your mind is not focused, Amun," Loki says as he sits beside me.

"Sorry, I'm distracted."

"That's because you're not focusing. You may be able to see an Aura without any conscious effort, but utilizing your own Aura is going to be a different beast altogether. It's not meant to calm you, forget about that. Focus on the act of focusing."

"Okay, but what am I supposed to focusing on?"

"You have not been paying attention to my lecture, I take it?" he asks with a small shake of his head.

"Well, I did, but I guess some of it might have- er, gone out the other ear."

"Typical," he mutters, "You may have a prodigious amount of control for someone so inexperienced, but you're still inexperienced. Don't let your potential go to your head, because until that potential is met it's only something that _might_ be."

"Of course," I say, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, just Focus."

"Can I at least get into a more comfortable position?"

"Of course," he says with a bit of confusion, "I'm not quite sure why you chose to have you legs folded under you like that in the first place."

Oh.

"Uh, I just thought-"

"No more thinking. Focus."

And so the morning went. The pattern repeating itself; I can't focus, Loki tells me to focus, I tell him I can't, he tells me to do it anyways.

When our lesson is over he bows to me and congratulates me on making progress.

I nod, smile, pretend to understand what progress he's referring to. The air around him distorts and he's disappeared.

It feels like I've just wasted three hours.

* * *

Ouch.

"They're really not going that fast," Atlas tells me, just as another one misses my head by a fraction of an inch. He's leaning against the far wall of the atrium with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh-," I move my leg away from the incoming projectile, "-really?"

"Really, I can do this in my sleep."

"I can't believe-," I dodge, "-you just said that."

"I'm serious. I've actually done this while sleeping. That's how I got my last Mastery Rank."

Hearing that I pause. The action is involuntary and I'm rewarded by an unpleasant sting from one of the fist-sized balls swarming the room. There's 7 of them, moving fast enough that they occasionally blur. However, they're only set to the _don't-kill-the-noob_ setting and instead of actually hitting me, they're only meant to get within a hair's breadth of my skin and send out a relatively small shock.

The guy that was in here before me came out with a limp and a black eye. I'll probably get out of it with a few singed hairs.

Still, ouch.

"The rank before that, I had to do the trial blindfolded. It was easy," he continues.

"Sure, easy for y- Oof!"

One of the doom-balls shocks me somewhere unpleasant and Atlas laughs as I fall over. The rest of the offending ball's friends take this as an invitation to hit me while I'm down and Atlas laughs harder.

The swarm eventually eases off and Atlas walks over to give me a hand to help me up.

"That," I pant, "sucked."

"We should probably get you to a medic," he says as he looks me over. I can feel burns all over my skin.

"I know you're enjoying this," I say.

"More than you could possibly imagine, but your display today was actually kind of sad and I don't want to see what you're like tomorrow if you don't get some medical attention."

While we walk to the infirmary I try to remember what Atlas had told me.

"You were saying something about Mastery Ranks?" I ask. In the Warframe game, the mastery ranks are gained through getting weapons and frames to level 30 through affinity points. Once you have enough affinity points you can Rank Up if you pass a challenge. Usually the challenges are pretty easy and can range from killing waves of enemies with specific weapons to hacking terminals of increasing complexity. Pass the challenge, gain the new rank. As your rank grows, so does your access to different weapons.

I don't want to assume that this universe is similar, but the fact that Mastery Ranks exist at all means that not all of my knowledge is obsolete. I'm finding a lot of things familiar, but it's like they were shuffled differently.

For example, one of the trainers I've met is named Ember. When I first heard this, I expected something similar to what I've encountered so far- basically something completely different than what I had already assumed she would look like; like Atlas and Loki.

However, the opposite was true. She's almost exactly as I remember her to be. Her warframe is a bit thinner around the arms and legs than they are in the game, but that's the only real difference.

She is to be my Ability trainer. I take that to mean that she'll be helping me learn what my abilities actually are, once I've learned how to _Focus_.

Loki is only around to teach me the basics of _Focusing_ , how to access my reserves of Void Energy through the manipulation of my Aura. Once I've accomplished that he'll be moving on to help someone else.

Atlas is going to be teaching me about different fighting styles. The first few sessions are going to be based around establishing where I'm at physically and mentally, like the gauntlet I've just been though.

Sufficed to say he's not impressed, but at least _somebody_ is having fun at my expense.

* * *

I'm not sure how the various medical devices worked, but during my visit to the infirmary I was subjected to over a dozen lights strobing around my body, followed by a dramatic decrease in pain-afflicted areas.

They told me it was a very basic treatment for the Tenno. They administer dozens of similar treatments every day, mostly right after whoever is getting the treatment is through with physical training. Atlas is usually the trainer that accompanies them.

In his defense, and these are his words, no one has yet to fail his course. I can't help but feel like something was being left unsaid.

My trans-dimensional father is Santa Claus if Atlas didn't come out of the Void with a few screws loose. The guy is a menace.

After the visit to the infirmary I made my way back to my personal quarters. Since then I've spent the last few minutes working on Focusing.

I close my eyes and try to concentrate. I'm really not sure what Loki expects me to concentrate on, but I decide to try and focus on the lack of sound around me.

Loki says it's supposed to be trial and error until I get a 'feel for it'. Everyone goes through the process of Focusing in a different way. Atlas and Loki say it's like an on/off switch after a while, but it takes years to get to that point. All they remember from their personal journeys was that they were as tedious as my own was looking to be, enhanced control of void energy excluding. Apparently seeing an Aura and feeling an Aura are like comparing apples and... Well, maybe red apples and green apples.

You would think they'd have a more streamlined process for this stuff by now. I'm a little worried that this _is_ the streamlined process.

With the sad thought that I won't be able to crack the Focus puzzle today I leave my quarters and try to think of something to do to fill the rest of my day.

There are seven Trainers here, of those I've met four and probably wouldn't meet the rest of them. Between the seven of them they balance and manage the training of 53 Tenno, ranging from total beginners like myself to intermediate students that I probably wouldn't meet until after I 'graduate' to my first master rank.

In the couple of days since I've been here I've only seen two more students. The first was a female who I identified as spider-girl from the void-ship. Her name is Raza. I learned her name through watching her Aura.

In hindsight, knowing someone's name before they tell me is kind of creepy.

The other student is nameless. He doesn't speak but he can hear just fine. His Aura is a lot more calming than the others I've seen, but the symbols that appear around him are like gibberish. Like someone wrote out a riddle and shuffled up the words and letters. It was a bit off-putting. I feel like if I had time to develop any sort of dependencies on my Aura-reading skills I'd be somewhat disturbed.

That's not the case though, so all I can say is that he seemed friendly enough. Kind of weird, but we've all got stuff going on.

Raza, on the other hand, doesn't stop talking. It took a minute for me to remember that these were all children in adult bodies. The opposite of me, in a way. Loki, Atlas, and my other trainers are basically teenagers, and these people are going to be teaching me how to be a slightly overpowered space ninja while also kicking my ass to toughen me up.

The thought of that hasn't really left me. I don't know how I'm going to live this down to myself. I know, intellectually, that it's not like I'm just getting my ass kicked by a bunch of little kids. But my ego is still insisting that I need to man up and show them who's boss. I shouldn't take that kind of crap from children!

Then I tell my ego to shut up because those _children_ have probably seen hundreds of people die and have been fighting against sentient war machines for years.

There's a balance there, somewhere. A very awkward balance.

I shake myself from my thoughts once I find my way to the lobby, the room with that tree which Atlas had...focused on.

I walk towards it, down the gradual decline provided by the circular depression in the center of the room. As I get closer I try to find something out of the ordinary. A few days ago a glowing white tree would fit that definition, but I've seen dozens of them throughout this place and I'm sure I'll probably see more.

What made this one important enough to shut Atlas up for more than a minute?

I sigh with frustration and sit at the edge of the extrusion, with my back to the tree. I begin to feel a subtle warmth.

Interesting.

I turn and move a hand closer to the tree. The closer it gets, the intensity of the warmth increases. It never gets to the point where it's uncomfortable, yet a part of me feels like I'm intruding on something.

Then I hear whispers coming from the tree. More like murmurs, hundreds of them.

The feeling I get is one of walking into a grand auditorium and having everyone's eyes on me. They're not judgmental eyes, but it's as if they're waiting for me to do something.

"Uh, hello?" I say

For a second the whispers are almost decipherable, their volume rising.

"Am I supposed to do something?" I ask...them?

"Fo…cu...sss," the tree whispers.

"I've been trying," I tell it, "but I have no idea what I'm supposed to be focusing on."

"Self...void...extend," it says, almost like it's struggling to find the energy to talk.

"How are you able to talk?" I ask it. It has no mouth, or lungs with which to breathe. There's no outward indication that it's actually talking at all. I really wish I could blame this whole thing on some sort of lapse of sanity, doesn't matter if it's regular insanity or something screwy with void exposure. A crutch like that, which I could use to explain the voices in my head, would be nice to lean on.

My question was met with silence.

Self, void, extend. The tree wants me to focus on those. The _freaking tree_ wants me to focus- you know what? I'm not even going to think about it right now.

"Thanks anyways," I say as I walk away. I sigh and shake my head. This Tenno business always looked so easy when it was just a video game. No one ever talks about the glowing trees and phantom voices.

I'm too tired for this shit. I debate whether or not I should take one more shot at meditation or if I should just get some sleep.

I walk the corridors back to my quarters. I enter the spartan room and run my hand over the wall panel. My bed slides through its slot and the holo-screen appears. There's a message waiting for me.

[New message from: Administrator]

Did Atlas ever tell me how to use this thing?

I walk over to the screen. It towers over me by at least 4 feet.

"Um, play message?" I ask it. Nothing happens.

"Hmm," I sigh. Maybe it's sensitive to motion?

I try to point to the message icon. I keep my hand hovering over it and again nothing happens.

Whatever, I'll leave it for tomorrow. I lay on the bed and the lights dim.

My last thoughts before I drift to sleep are about home.

* * *

The room where Loki is training me isn't like a lot of the others. It's small, like my personal quarters, but where my quarters are humbler this room keeps the opulence of the rest of the facility.

He stands in the center of the room and bows to me as I enter. He's still wearing his Warframe.

I wonder if he ever takes it off.

I bow back and he motions for me to sit in front of him.

"Amun," he says, "how was your first session with Atlas yesterday?"

I flinch at the memory.

"Ah, that says enough. Don't worry, it only gets more difficult from there."

"Wait, don't worry? How am I supposed to keep up if it just gets harder?"

"Once you learn to Focus the whole thing becomes much easier. You'll beg for more of a challenge, trust me."

"If you say so, sir."

"I do," he nods.

 _Okay..._

"So, should I start?"

"If you wish."

"Alright," I sit down with my legs crossed and face the blank, white metal wall in front of me. I take a deep breath in, hold it, and let it out a few seconds later.

At this point I expect Loki to say something.

He doesn't.

That's fine with me.

Okay, so my goal is to Focus. I remember my, um, _conversation_ with the tree.

What was it saying, again? _Self, stretch, void?_

I asked what I was supposed to focus on, and it definitely said _self._

Focus on myself? Easy enough.

I start to pay more attention to my breathing. The sound, the taste of the air as it passes the back of my throat, the feeling of my chest expanding and contracting.

I close my eyes since I'm finding the visual input to be distracting. There is a slight buzzing in my forearms. It's very subtle, almost imperceptible. I pay more attention to that feeling. In my imagination I can see the feeling spread through my hands and up my arms. As it spreads it gets more intense, from a subtle buzz to a noticeable thump. It's like a vibration.

It's starting to feel a familiar.

Further throughout my body the vibration spreads. I feel it in my chest, my legs, and my head. The more intense the feeling gets, the more energetic I become. All of my worries from the last couple of days seem so distant and _small._

I feel powerful.

"Very impressive," Loki whispers.

I guess I'm doing something right.

Self, stretch- no, _extend_?

"What did you just say?" I hear Loki ask.

"Sorry?" I respond, did I really just say it?

"You said 'extend', that's the second step. How did you know that?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud," I say. I don't even remember my mouth moving.

"You didn't speak it, you thought it."

"Wait, WHAT?" I ask, perhaps a bit too loud.

"You've shown remarkable progress, Amun. No Tenno transfer has ever shown such progress so fast. It takes most students at least a week to develop the mental triggers necessary to control Void Energy. Of course, there was that anomaly with your transference and your instinctive ability to see Auras. From that perspective maybe your accelerated understanding is, well, understandable." he says, I assume he's just thinking out loud.

"One of the first things a Tenno will learn after they have gotten used to Focusing is the ability to project thoughts towards other Tenno. Walk me through what you just did," he says as he stares at me with, if I'm reading his body language right, extreme curiosity.

So I tell him about yesterday, my frustration at not being able to Focus, and my short walk to the lobby. I tell him about my curiosity regarding the tree in the lobby's center, and my short conversation with the aforementioned wooden entity.

Loki nods a very large, exaggerated nod.

"Yes, that makes a lot of sense."

"Oh?" I ask.

"You were saying during our introduction that you could see symbols flickering around other Tenno's Auras. I'm following that to its logical conclusion."

I wait for him to elaborate.

He doesn't.

"And?" I prompt him.

"Hmm?"

I swear, these people and their freakin-

"All of those trees- throughout the facility and beyond, are semi-sentient. On an individual basis they're not very intelligent, but if you have enough of them within a few astronomical units they form a sort of sapient telepathic hive-mind. It calls itself Windcatcher."

If my jaw could touch the floor from my position, it would have.

What.

"You wouldn't have learned about it before coming here. It's a well-kept Tenno secret. The only outsiders who know of Windcatcher are the High Council, and they only know because we felt obliged to tell them about an emergent intelligence within our Solar System. Now, you may be asking yourself, why didn't anyone else know about this?"

Nope, I'm still stuck on the whole sapient, glowing-tree hive-mind thing.

I nod anyways.

"Zariman 10-0," he says, his voice dripping with melodrama.

I shake my head this time. "Sorry, I don't get it," I say, by now my mind has just started to process the fact that a hive-minded entity made up of glowing white trees not only exists, but does so over the vast distances that make up a star system.

"During the Zariman 10-0's unfortunate voyage, the people aboard it weren't the only thing to be affected by the Void. Windcatcher was the accumulation of several generations of selective breeding to Void-altered plant organisms. The researchers who engineered this species were experimenting with the organism's rate of growth, which had seen a fourfold increase in the time they were working with it. They were showcased to the High Councill, who were impressed with the tree's elegance. They then asked for the trees to be placed in every place of governance throughout the system. The wealthy decorate their gardens with them and there are even small forests consisting of the Windcatcher species popping up in a few places.

I remember the day we first felt its presence. A fledgling intelligence, stretching across space, able to sense and touch the Tenno Aura's. Those remaining from my class can speak fluently with the entity through the Void. Beginners have a much harder time understanding Windcatcher, that you were able to understand it at all is where my hypothesis regarding your Aura-reading comes in.

Anyways, after about a year we had learned enough about Windcatcher for a reliable means of communication to be formed. We presented our findings to the High Council. They were shocked, to say the least. It was later decided to hold onto this information until more is learned about Windcatcher. It's not every day you accidentally uplift plant life to full sapience."

"So," I say after a second of silence, "the same process that lets me see people's Auras lets me form some sort of contact with Windcatcher?"

"That's what I believe, yes. Through the years we've learned that Windcatcher has a fondness for certain individuals who, more often than not, tend to stand out. Through a finer control of Focusing, you may soon find yourself with a new friend. After your demonstration of rudimentary Focus, I expect that even you will be surprised at your rate of progress... "

A strange feeling forms in my gut at the word _friend_.

"...Speaking of which, it's one thing to know how to tap the potential of the Void, it's another thing to be able to…"

Loki keeps talking but the words aren't really registering. All of a sudden I feel a longing for home, for my family and the few friends I had. I don't remember the last thing I talked to my parents about. It was something inconsequential, like groceries or weather.

"...which is partially why they couldn't cope with the mental strain…"

Hell, I even miss my old job. I can't say I was close to any of my coworkers, but the couple of days of separation feels like decades. We had some fun times. My old boss might have been a jerk, but he knew how to bring people together, even if they were doing so in spite of him.

Damn, it feels like I'm in mourning, like there is a significant absence of substance where something warm and comfortable used to reside.

"...fortunately, the food isn't as bad as it used to be. Once we realized we don't need to eat as much we began to spend more on indulgences…"

Their lives are my responsibility now. All of those billions of people- most of whom I'd never have met or had the opportunity to care about- will perish if I don't survive. The _voice_ was clear about that.

I start to feel power pulsing through my body.

Loki stops talking.

"Are you okay, Amun?" he asks with worry in his voice.

The question hits me like a physical force.

Am I okay? Am I okay with being abducted from my home and thrust into this vaguely familiar world thousands of years into the future? A universe where the conventional laws of physics are fucking optional?

The power reaches a boiling point and I can feel it flow throughout the room. It expands and contracts in sync with my heartbeat, accelerated by a growing anger.

"No," I decide, "I'm really not okay."

As I say those words I feel an acceptance within myself. The raw anger melts away, but it gives way to something different, something more focused yet no less intense.

No, I'm not okay with it, but I acknowledge it's happening. I acknowledge the weight of responsibility I've been given.

I won't shy away from it. Though I might have in the past, the Daniel I was a few days ago isn't the same man I am now. I think I have Amun to thank for that.

Loki nods and puts his hands on my shoulder. "Then you should take some time to meditate on your future, but not right now. You have made great progress today but you are experiencing a great deal of inner turmoil. I can feel it in you, just as I've felt it in every student before you. Learn to channel those feelings into something useful. I will see you again tomorrow."

He turned towards the door and disappeared in a blur of warped space and colors. The door opens and shuts, as if reacting to a phantom presence.

I sigh and walk out of the room like a normal, visible person.

* * *

"Loki tells me you've managed to impress him," Atlas says as we walk towards the atrium. The atrium was originally meant to be a meeting place for the Tenno High Council, but somewhere along the way those plans were nixed and made way for a glorified boxing ring.

A very spacious, beautiful, and high tech boxing ring.

"What else did he say?" I ask.

"Nothing, really. He just popped in, told me you were impressive, and popped out. I'm used to that kind of stuff from him so I didn't bother trying to chase him down for an elaboration. I guess you're making good progress with your Focus training?"

"Yeah, he says I am. I'm taking his word for it."

"Alright, if that's the case then I'll teach you some nifty little tricks today. Hopefully you won't need a trip to the infirmary at the end of this session."

"Nifty tricks are always good."

"Yeah, especially the kind that will eventually save your life."

"Point taken."

We enter the atrium and the ambient light fades a bit. Atlas motions for me to walk towards the center of the room.

"Before we start, I'd like you to try something."

"Oh?"

"First I want you to Focus."

I close my eyes and focus on my-

"No, keep your eyes open. I think you're capable of doing this the hard way."

"But it didn't work like that last time," I tell him.

"It this doesn't work then you'll be going through an even worse experience than the last time we got together. Just trust me, alright?"

Heh. I'll trust you farther than I can throw you when it comes to matters of bodily harm.

What the hell, I'll humor him.

The first step was to pay attention to what was going on in my body. I try to ignore the gold and whites around me, diverting more focus towards my breathing like I did earlier. The air was cold, but not cold enough to sting the back of my throat. The more I breathe, the more I can feel. I can feel the tingling again, but it's starting halfway between my stomach and my chest abd it's even less noticeable than last time. In fact, I think it's starting to fade already-

-damn. Lost it.

No, you're not getting away that easy.

I cheat and close my eyes a little bit and I go through the process of focusing on my breath. Every ounce of my concentration is focused inwards.

There it is, the _spark_.

I feel the tingle turn into something more tangible, the vibration is back as it spreads throughout my body. It doesn't take long to engulf my entire being.

"Loki was right, it is impressive," Atlas says.

I look at Atlas and smile. The power feels so _good_. I revel in it, in the inner glow. I can do anything. With enough Focus there will be nothing- no _one_ that can stand in my way.

I'll show that _voice_ what I'm made of. I'll face the Entity it warned me of and I'll erase it from existence. I won't stop there, either. I'll find all of the-

…Ouch.

I find myself laying on my back. Atlas is standing over me with one of those flying devil-balls in his hand.

"Typical. Yeah, you can focus pretty well for a noob but you're still just a noob."

A very witty retort comes to mind, but all that comes out of my mouth is a wheezing sound.

"I know, apology accepted," he says, holding out his hand to help me up.

Smug. _Hmph._

I take his hand and he pulls me back to my feet without so much as a grunt.

"We in the Tenno business call what you just went through _Megaloparalysis_. It happens to everyone once they've finally cracked the Focus enigma. That raw power you felt, meager as it was," he looks at me knowingly, "would have had the effect of making you feel like a god. For a second, all of your thoughts would have been moving along the lines of 'Oh yeah! I'm going to take over the world! Nothing will stand in my way! Any of this sound familiar?"

I nod. The rush has faded and I feel a bit tired, and maybe a little embarrassed.

"We all go through it at one point, thankfully it's usually at the beginning. I like to be around so I can knock you self-proclaiming demigods onto your asses. That's about what it takes to dispel you scrubs of your illusions. Feeling better now?"

I nod again. I'm starting to breathe a bit easier now after having my breath knocked out of me.

"Good. Now we can move on. I want you to do that again, but this time ignore all of those plans for world domination. Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah, I'll try," I mumble.

"That's the spirit, champ!"

If you weren't a walking weapon, bud…

I push away thoughts of vengeance and get myself back into a something resembling a state of calm.

Step one, breathe.

My chest expands and contracts.

Step two, embrace my inner tickle.

The power radiates throughout my extremities.

Step three, Focus.

Oh-ho yeah, that's the stuff-

-No. Stop that.

"Are you feeling omnipotent yet?" Atlas asks.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Excellent. Tell me what the power feels like."

"It feels _really good-_

"No, I want you to tell me what it feels like in a more literal sense. For example, when I Focus it feels like I'm submerged in cold water," he explains.

"Oh, uh, it starts off really faint. Then when it builds up it's like there are waves, or vibrations, moving throughout my body."

"Alright, I want you to take that feeling and push it away from you in every direction."

"So, you're saying you want me to _extend_ it?"

"Yeah, same thing, whatever. Just try it."

There's a steady pattern to the waves, not so much back and forth, more like in and out. I concentrate on those motions and imagine the _out_ motion to go further, to leave my skin. It takes a minute of trying and failing, but I finally get to the point where I can _feel_ the space around me for about a meter in every direction.

"I think I got it," I tell him.

"Great. I want you to close your eyes and tell me you notice anything."

I nod and close my eyes.

"Okay, now what?"

"Concentrate on the energy surrounding you."

"I am, what are- oh."

There is something in my space. Right at the edge, pushing gently against my awareness…

"You feel it?"

"Yeah, it's like-

"Dodge it."

Whatever it is, it accelerates towards me. I can feel it move and with a speed I didn't know I possessed I lean to the left, missing the impact by less than an inch.

"Holy shit!"

"Yeah, you got it. That's pretty impressive."

"I just, I mean I didn't even see or hear it. I knew it was there and that it was coming at me." I face Atlas and he's smiling.

"Congratulations, you've got basic situational awareness. Over the course of your training here we'll work on extending the range of that awareness and your reaction time. Seriously, I could run a mile in the time it took you to move."

"You're just screwing with me."

"Yeah, maybe a little. But do you remember what I told you about my last Mastery Rank test?"

"Oh."

He smiles again.

"That's enough of a warm up, I think. You ready to get your ass kicked?"

* * *

I run my hand over the wall panel, the sight of my bed leaving its hole in the wall is the most welcoming thing I've seen today.

The holoscreen appears at the far side of my room.

[New message from: Administrator]

I ignore it.

I limp towards my bed. My trip to the infirmary after Atlas was done torturing me was anticlimactic. They looked me over, fixed a broken rib and told me that the bruises and burns would fade within a day, then they sent me on my way.

I lay on my bed and think over today's events.

Atlas was happy with the progress we made. He's impressed with my ability to Focus. I had tried to extend my situational awareness past a meter but it was like trying to push against a heavy brick wall.

When I had voiced my thoughts on the matter to Atlas, he laughed at me. 'Bricks? How quaint!"

I snort as my head hits the pillow.

That guy is a menace.


	5. Final Recording of Contestant 4

**FINAL RECORDING OF CONTESTANT #4**

 _ **Unknown Location**_

 _ **Unknown Date**_

 _RECORDING STARTS_

 _[Sounds of cursing and fabric shuffling]_

"It's only been a few days!"

 _ **[Laughter]**_

"Seriously? You're just gonna' come over and finish it? Jus' like that?"

 _ **[Growling]**_

"Fine, bring it on pig-face!"

 _[Sounds of slow, reverberating footsteps]_

" _Damn_ , you are an ugly motherfucker!"

 _[Sounds of more shuffling, followed by a curse]_

"I'm not scared of you! I'm warnin' you!"

 _ **[Deep, booming laughter]**_

"S-seriously, I'm not playing around."

 _[Sounds of something metallic dropping, followed by another curse]_

" _ **YOUR POWER IS FLEDGLING, PITIFUL. TODAY, THE ENTITY FEEDS!"**_

 _[Wet sounds, followed by screams]_

" _ **YOUR WORLD HAS BEEN BURNED. SUFFER, WORM."**_

 _[Screaming intensifies and cuts off]_

 _ **[Deep, booming laughter]**_

 _[Click]_

 _END OF RECORDING_

* * *

 _Short A/N: IF you've been following my journal on my Author's Page, then you know that things have been happening in my life that have gotten in the way of me writing this story. It's not dead, just sleeping. Kind of._

 _This is something i've had saved for a while, more of an interlude than a chapter but I thought It would be a nice excuse to let you all know what's been going on with my life. Namely, depression and quasi-homelessness. Computer time is sparse._

 _Don't give up on this story, though. I have every intention of continuing it._


End file.
